


i wish i knew better by now (but i'm old enough not to)

by number0thefool



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Short One Shot, Swearing, Tonal Inconsistency, meet cute TM, one-sided enemies to whatever they are now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25337125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/number0thefool/pseuds/number0thefool
Summary: Still smiling, the boy reaches forward to shake his hand. “Yukhei.” His smile widens into a grin. “I’m doing maths with music on the side.”Yukhei. He can’t help but just stand there, wondering if he’s accidently initiated a staring contest.or the one where they meet at a house party
Relationships: Kim Jungwoo/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	i wish i knew better by now (but i'm old enough not to)

**Author's Note:**

> i have been....... deliberating... over whether or not to post this. everyone is completely out of character here for better or worse idk. 
> 
> title is from 'stolen car' by beth orton

Jungwoo is not an inherently jealous person. Like most, he values movie nights and lunch dates with friends, hanging around on campus or making extravagant travel plans while they eat instant noodles in his dorm cafeteria. This kind of time is, as of recent, increasingly rare. Jungwoo has no idea who Lucas is but he very much distrusts him. All his friends were disappearing one by one into Lucas Land and, well, he misses them.

So of course he agrees to go to the party. In fact, he’s one of the first to arrive.

He’s cordially informed that Lucas will be arriving later so he makes the most of his time catching up with the others, forcefully avoiding the Lucas topic. Jungwoo complains about his assignments and how the plants on his windowsill seem to die faster than he can replace them, pretending, for ten peaceful minutes, that Lucas does not exist.

And then he sees _him_. Standing by the kitchen counter, skin almost golden under the ceiling lights, a slight smirk playing on his face as he leans onto the tabletop. He’s laughing at something that the people around him are saying and it’s a strange sound – so deep that it mingles with the bass of the music in the background. Jungwoo has lost track of his own conversation and apologises to the person he’s talking to, who thankfully wanders off and leaves him with an unobstructed view of _him_. Jungwoo knows he’s staring, and the alcohol in his bloodstream makes it that he doesn’t turn away as quickly as he should when they make eye contact.

It’s only a moment, but it’s enough. He feels like he’s falling, so he falls forwards into the kitchen to get himself a glass of something, _anything_ , from the bottles that line the countertop. There’s at least three pairs of eyes on him, but two of them step back to continue their own conversation, startled by Jungwoo’s sudden arrival.

He pours himself a cup of the least offensive-looking liquid – all the labels are in another language, or maybe he’s just too tired read.

“Not a bad choice.” Jungwoo doesn’t realise the voice is directed at him until he raises his head and catches their eyes again; the tone of their voice is so low that it takes him a moment to string the series of sounds into words.

“Yeah,” he says before realising that they are gesturing to the bottle he'd just poured from. “I have no idea what this is but it went down okay.”

The boy smiles in response and now Jungwoo doesn’t know what to say. He takes another sip and hopes he’ll forget about all of by this tomorrow.

“I’m Jungwoo, by the way. Third year linguistics major. Please don’t ask me to correct your grammar because I refuse to do work outside of class.” He adds the grammar bit as a joke but he knows it isn’t funny.

Still smiling, the boy reaches forward to shake his hand. “Yukhei.” His smile widens into a grin. “I’m doing maths with music on the side.”

 _Yukhei_. He can’t help but just stand there, wondering if he’s accidently initiated a staring contest.

“Okay be straight with me, how much have you had to drink.” Yukhei blinks when he starts talking so Jungwoo wins.

“A bit,” Jungwoo admits with a slight tip of his head to avoid the other’s eyes. It doesn’t work because _of course it doesn’t work_. Yukhei’s eyes find his and pull him back up.

“I bet I’ve drunk twice as much as you have.”

“You seem to be operating just fine,” Jungwoo says as he leans back a little accommodate Yukhei, who’s folded himself over the countertop, chin resting on his hand.

"Not keen on remembering all my assessments this week.” He inspects the grooves that run along the rim of the cup with his thumb. “Plus,” he says, his grin returning, “I’m not fun when I’m sober.”

“I’m sure you’re fun when you’re sober.”

“Are you asking to get to know me better?” He’s leaning further towards Jungwoo now and Jungwoo is simultaneously too drunk and not drunk enough to handle the situation. Rubbing his eyes to wake up a little more, he wanders around to Yukhei’s side of the counter and fills Yukhei’s empty cup with water from the sink, setting it in front of him.

“Drink up,” he says as brightly as he can, reaching over to do the same with his own cup.

Yukhei’s still facing the opposite side of the counter, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Jungwoo is now standing beside him. “Setting a good example?”

“I’m trying.”

Yukhei muses and doesn’t say anything for a little while. “Maybe we’re both too drunk for this.” Jungwoo can’t help but smile, but the moment’s over as quickly as it begins.

“Lucas?”

Jungwoo turns around as quickly as he can, almost falling back into Yukhei who’s still sprawled over the counter. He narrows his eyes at Johnny. “Lucas _where_.”

“Lucas right behind you? God, I leave you alone for half an hour and you drink yourself into oblivion.” Johnny draws his words out, clearly joking, but it hurts nonetheless because what Johnny says is true: he leaves his friend alone for half an hour and Jungwoo not only drinks, he becomes infatuated with a stranger.

“Is everyone criticising how much alcohol I’ve had tonight?” And then he remembers. He turns around as slowly as he can, desperately searching for someone else that might be the ‘Lucas behind you’ that Johnny was referring to. Yukhei just grins at him while his mind provides pure radio silence.

“You’re Lucas?”

Yukhei nods solemnly. “They gave me the wrong nametag at orientation and it just kind of stuck.”

“Johnny, a word,” Jungwoo hisses as discreetly as he can, flashing a smile at _Lucas_ as he leads his friend out of the kitchen and into the corridor.

“ _You didn’t tell me he was pretty._ ”

Johnny looks absolutely bewildered. “I thought you already knew him! That kind of irrational hatred for someone can’t spring up when you’ve never even met. Wait Jungwoo, don’t tell me you’ve never met him before tonight.”

All Jungwoo can do is stare in response. The sheet of A4 paper that is his reality has been torn up, incinerated, and then blasted into space.

“You should probably go apologise to him,” Johnny offers in his infinite wisdom.

Jungwoo is tired.

“If he’s still there.”

He groans in Johnny’s general direction as he slumps back into the kitchen, immediately correcting his posture when Yukhei – _Lucas? –_ comes into view, still hanging over the bench.

“Hello again. Didn’t think you’d come back.”

“And yet you waited,” he can’t help himself from pointing out.

Lucas hums a non-recognisable tune. It’s soft and low and Jungwoo wished he could lean into the sound of it. Swallowing the doubt in the back of his throat, he slows his words down to make sure they come out coherently. “Can I get your number?” He’d worry about the repercussions later.

When there’s no immediate response, his first instinct is to keep talking. _Apologise, earn their sympathy, use that to build your friendship._ “I’m sorry I freaked out when I found out you’re called Lucas, and I’m really sorry for disappearing like that.”

He’s poised to continue, to pour his soul out to a stranger at a party on a Wednesday night, but Lucas is taking his phone out of his pocket and handing it to him. Of course Jungwoo can’t do anything gracefully, entering his number and checking at least five times to make sure it was correct. He looks down at the counter as he replaces the phone in Lucas’s hand, unsure if he could face him ever again. Not even a minute ago, he’d been asking for this guy’s number. Jungwoo vows to never drink again.

His misery spiral is broken by a small vibration in his pocket; on the home screen is “ _;)”_ , sent by an unknown number. The courage to look up at Lucas has not yet arrived, so he replies to the text instead. “ _sorry again”._

There’s something warm on his shoulder and before he can think, he’s pulled into a hug. Jungwoo notices a few things in no particular order. First, he was going against everything he’d ever been told about house party etiquette and was now hugging a stranger. Second, Lucas was taller than him. And finally, he smelled like the washing powder Jungwoo’s old roommate used.

Jungwoo is terrible at getting what he wants. He steps out of Lucas’s arms as kindly as he can after a few seconds, stretching his arms out behind him.

“If I made you uncomfortable-“

“You didn’t.” Johnny was right. He’d drunk too much, he should have stayed home to work on his assignment due in a few days, realised that his friends had lives outside of him. But the last thing he can handle tonight is Lucas blaming himself for any of this. “Can we start again?”

Lucas blinks.

 _Fuck it_. “Hi, I’m Jungwoo, I’m a third-year linguistics major. I live in a dorm just off campus with my friend Doyoung. I really want a dog but animals aren’t allowed in the building. When I was younger I wanted to be florist; if the syntax thing doesn’t work out I’ll open a flower shop. I can't drink coffee after 2 in the afternoon or I won't be able to sleep for the next day or so.” Lucas just watches him, grin having returned to his face.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Jungwoo.” The left side of Jungwoo’s body has lost all feeling, but he accepts Lucas’s handshake nonetheless. “When I was a kid I wanted to be an evil scientist.”

This time Jungwoo is the one that initiates the hug and for a little while, they stand there, swaying slightly to the beat of whichever song is playing now.

“Wanna get lunch tomorrow?”

“I’d like that,” he mumbles into Lucas’s shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> ty for reading! 
> 
> this is kind of a mess but if you have any thoughts let me know in the comments ? i appreciate any and all feedback


End file.
